Queensland beats Victoria for apartment living: Who’d have thought?

Madeleine Walsh on the balcony of the unit she rents in South Brisbane. Picture: AAP/Sarah Marshall.

QUEENSLAND is now second only to New South Wales when it comes to the number of people living in an apartment, with more of us ditching a house with a big backyard for a unit.

More Queenslanders now live in apartments than our southern counterparts in Victoria, with CoreLogic research revealing 22 per cent or about 1 in 5 people in New South Wales live in an apartment followed by 17 per cent in Queensland and 15 per cent in Victoria.

And it’s paying off, with unit owners in suburbs like Norman Park, Highgate Hill, Mount Gravatt, East Brisbane and Annerley seeing price growth of between 10 per cent and 16 per cent in the past 12 months.

It comes as property experts predict the state’s apartment market will emerge from a supply glut more buoyant than ever, on the back of an $18 billion infrastructure pipeline and increasing interstate migration.

Real Estate Institute of Queensland chief executive Antonia Mercorella said despite the concerns about the increase in unit supply in the southeast corner, there was clear evidence that supply was self-correcting in some regions.

“While the Brisbane unit market is very closely scrutinised at the moment, and is often characterised as oversupplied, the data does not yet support this,” she said.

Ms Mercorella said Queensland’s median unit price had actually grown over the 12 months to June, by 0.5 per cent to $392,000.

“This is an indication that demand is keeping pace with the supply, albeit at a state level,” she said.

There have been concerns about oversupply in Brisbane’s unit market. Picture: Richard Walker.

Queensland building approvals for units fell more than 30 per cent in fiscal 2017, with the biggest reduction occurring in the Brisbane council area, Ipswich, Moreton Bay, Noosa and the Gold Coast.

“We know we have a growing population and that growth drives demand for housing,” Ms Mercorella said.

“Queenslanders are embracing apartment living in ever greater numbers. ABS data reveals the southeast corner as one of the most popular internal migration destinations and we expect continued growth in this area.

“Projects such as Queens Wharf and Howard Smith Wharves are delivering even more exciting apartment options that will appeal to many.”

An artist’s impression of Queens Wharf Plaza.

Peter Hutton of Hutton & Hutton agreed the apartment market was starting to self correct and that demand was actually increasing for larger, owner-occupier units.

“People have always downsized, that’s not terribly new, but architecturally apartment living has come a long way in the last five years,” he said.

“The way space is used is a lot better and so are the inclusions.”

Mr Hutton has worked in real estate for more than 20 years, mainly selling apartments in Brisbane’s inner-city suburbs, and has seen the appetite for apartment living increase, particularly among downsizers and young renters.

“People work hard to raise their families in the suburbs on the quarter acre block and get to a point where they’re looking forward to a lifestyle of cafes and a bit more freedom,” he said.

“At the end of the day an apartment equals freedom for most people.

“Younger tenants also want to live in an apartment because they want to live in a village atmosphere where everything’s there for them.”

More Queenslanders are living apartments than Victorians. Picture: Mark Calleja.

Madeleine Walsh, 29, is one of those people.

She has lived in apartments for the past decade and bought her first home — a unit in Chermside — two years ago.

Miss Walsh currently rents in a unit in South Brisbane with her fiance, although they are considering buying a house to start a family once they get married.

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